SCISSION provides progressive news and analysis from the breaking point of Capital.
SCISSION represents an autonomist Marxist viewpoint.
The struggle against white skin privilege and white supremacy is key.
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"You cannot carry out fundamental change without a certain amount of madness. In this case, it comes from nonconformity, the courage to turn your back on the old formulas, the courage to invent the future.”
FIGHT WHITE SUPREMACY, SAVE THE EARTH

Wednesday, December 07, 2011

SCISSION WILL BE TALKING SOME TIME OUT NOW. SCISSION, WITH ANY LUCK AT ALL, SHOULD REAPPEAR SHORTLY AFTER THE NEW YEAR. YOU MAY SEE SOMETHING BEFORE THEN EVERY NOW AND THEN, BUT I AIN'T MAKING ANY PROMISES. SHOULD THE EMPIRE FALL BEFORE THAT DATE, ALL BETS ARE OFF...

Tuesday, December 06, 2011

Indigenous people are more than used to the "other side" paying no attention to treaties and accords they sign. Mexico is no different as the article below from TruthOut will show.

It isn't necessary to round up people and gun them down to try and destroy them and their culture. There are a myriad of less dramatic ways to do the same thing. We see such everywhere and everyday in this lovely Empire. Some may call this genocide. Some may not. Some may call it globalization, and some may call it the free market. Who cares what you call it? IT has got to stop and it won't until we create a new way...

US, Mexico and Corporations Collude to Squelch Indigenous Movements

The Zapatistas have a motto: “everything for everyone, nothing for ourselves,” which seems to have been twisted by Mexican officials, as the government almost gleefully denies the indigenous group its autonomy. This includes being repeatedly denied the ability to assemble peacefully and work their own land freely. Their homes have been seized in the name of private investments, they are being forced to sell themselves as cheap labor to the corporate machine, and the land’s natural resources, which had remained unspoiled and shared by all, are now being exploited for profit. The “death blow” delivered by NAFTA to the indigenous people of Mexico, particularly those in the southeastern state of Chiapas, has archly manifested with the coming of the PPP (the Plan Puebla-Panama). This policy is determined to yoke the inhabitants of the region under the auspices of neoliberalism; a method utilized to defeat the autonomous communes, one that can easily be mistaken as an economic and employment package.

NAFTA, ratified in 1994, directly opposed, and in effect overturned, Article 27 of the Mexican Constitution, which had guaranteed collective property rights to those who worked the communal land. This mandate, in fact, was explicitly acknowledged by the U.S. government as a necessity prior to the signing of the NAFTA pact. Essentially, the Maya and other indigenous groups were forbidden to participate in a legal statute that enabled their cultural practices. Eventually in 1996, the Zapatistas forced President Ernesto Zedillo to the bargaining table, where they signed the San Andrés Accords. The Accords were created to further guarantee the protection of indigenous rights as well as credentialing them autonomy, among other national social criteria (Accords Article I).#1 The treaty, which was never implemented, was not only meant to address the critical issues facing the state of Chiapas, but also was aimed at all countrywide indigenous concerns. It was the negligence of these legal affairs that had incited the rebellion in the first place. In response to the government’s blatant disregard for the Accords, which was the second legally based document protecting their rights, the Zapatista’s formed the Juntas de Buen Gobierno, (Councils of Good Government) in 2003.

Under the leadership and guidance of these councils, health care was made available to “63% of all expectant mothers, double the average for non-Zapatista communities in the area.” Furthermore, “74% of Zapatista homes have access to toilets, as opposed to 54% in non-Zapatista homes” (Pablo Gonzalez Casanova, former rector of Mexico’s National Autonomous University).#2 Though the Mexican government repeatedly failed to recognize the needs of its struggling indigenous population, Zapatismo emphatically flourished. Although accessible health care was a major concern, and great strides were made in education, as well as women’s and indigenous people’s rights, these “guerrillas” were merely addressing, and rectifying what by all standards was a humanitarian crisis.

The systematic degradation of indigenous communities has culminated in the PPP effectively establishing a Free Trade Zone in the southeastern sector; a zone that is essentially outside Mexican jurisdiction. These zones allow for the exploitation of people by foreign corporations (the only existing neoliberal institution more obstructive than suffocating austerity measures). Mexico’s long sought after Plan Puebla-Panama exempts all participating companies from taxes and releases them from their social obligations to abide by existing regulations and standards of conduct (Puerto Chiapas).#3Communities that were previously self-sustaining collectives are now providing labor for the maquilas. The self-created social infrastructure of the Zapatistas has literally been slashed and burned, replaced by working conditions crudely patched together with negligence, an hourly wage that might suffice for a six-year-old’s weekly allowance, and the provision of roads for the transportation of commodities.

The welfare of the people of Chiapas was clearly of scant concern to the Mexican government (ergo, the rebellion), but the sanctity of the Lacandon Jungle, which many Zapatistas had inhabited for two or more centuries, is quite a different story. Significant oil reserves are located within their communities, as well as being the source of nearly half of Mexico’s water supply. An enormous profit could be turned from privatizing the oil fields and water supplies, not to mention the possible construction of hydroelectric dams in the region. This woeful tale may sound strangely akin to America’s own history with its indigenous population. Fortunately, U.S. foreign and Indian policy put an end to such harsh treatment of native communities located on U.S. soil. Ironically, however, the PPP, along with its big brother, NAFTA, were both largely America’s brainchildren. Unsurprisingly, the champions of decency and democracy became responsible for the displacement and debasement of an entire Mexican state, spurning them of its own natural splendor and resources.

In conjunction with such incriminating circumstances, the forced expulsion of indigenous groups and the atrocious working conditions that they are coerced in to, some view such occurrences as acts of genocide under international law. Such a term should not be thrown about lightly. However it raises some very real concerns regarding the fate of the Maya and other native peoples in Mexico. It is irrefutable, though, that NAFTA’s machinations, the PPP, and the Mexican and other signatory affiliates are guilty of violating the International Labor Organization’s Convention 169, in regards to indigenous and tribal peoples. The article states: Governments shall have the responsibility for developing, with the participation of the peoples concerned, co-coordinated and systematic action to protect the rights of these peoples and to guarantee respect for their integrity” (ILO #169).#4

Despite the glaringly obvious legal violations, human rights derelictions, and acts of environmental destruction on the part of Mexican authorities, the Zapatistas are still fighting a losing battle. Seventeen years of determination and strife, and eight years of self-autonomy are all being swept away by the combined regional might of the Mexican and American governments combined with corporate interests. This article does not aim to argue from a moral or ethical standpoint, but rather to simply point out that what the United States and Mexico are doing is illegal, as per national and international law. It is only in defense of global capitalism that such atrocities remain protected.

Monday, December 05, 2011

Here is an occupation you didn't hear about. Workers at aOcean Choice International in Newfoundland were told their plant was going to be shut down and they were to be sent packing. They weren't happy with the news and stormed the plant and refused to allow the bosses inside. They said the company would not be allowed to remove anything from the plant.

One more example of the war waged on the multitude by the Empire and one more example of resistance in a world where we are all connected.

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Workers occupied a fish plant in southern Newfoundland Friday, soon after their employer said it could not afford to keep it and another troubled plant open.

OCI closures

About 240 people worked in Marystown, and 170 in Port Union

Both plants have been idle for months. Port Union has been shuttered since Hurricane Igor in September 2010

Government aid sought for jobless workers

Some of the employees of Ocean Choice International in the Burin Peninsula town of Marystown swarmed into their idled plant on Friday afternoon, switched on breakers and denounced OCI's decision to shut down a plant that is a cornerstone of the region's economy.

David Paul, one of the workers who stormed the plant, said frustration and anger filled the crowd.

"It's a shock and we're devastated and we're angry. Especially with the way the company came out with this announcement. It seemed like it was behind everybody's back. They never notified our union and said this was going to happen," said Paul.

Bill Stockly said he and the other workers won't allow OCI past their picket line to remove any equipment from the plant until a resolution is found.

"Not a screw, not a bolt, nothing comes out of this plant until this thing is resolved.... Well everybody is absolutely flabbergasted. Just before Christmas, an announcement that they're going to close the plant. You know we've had people working here for 43 years and all of a sudden they don't have a job."

OCI confirmed Friday that it had no choice but to close the Marystown plant as well as another operation in Port Union, on Newfoundland's Bonavista Peninsula. The Port Union plant has been closed since September 2010, when Hurricane Igor struck the town and damaged the building.

At a news conference in St. John's, OCI president Martin Sullivan said the company had no choice but to close both plants immediately.

"Sometimes things that are broken cannot be fixed, especially when all the critical factors are beyond our own control," said president Martin Sullivan, announcing closures that will put several hundred people out of work, and which will mean massive losses to rural communities that depend on fish processing.

OCI said it will invest more than $5 million in the coming years to upgrade its other plants in Bonavista, Triton, Port au Choix, St. Lawrence and Fortune.

The announcements come amid expectations of a shakeup in Newfoundland and Labrador's seafood industry, which for years has been criticized for having dramatically too much processing capacity for the raw product that has been caught.

While Premier Kathy Dunderdale indicated in October that government is preparing to deal with tough issues in the industry, OCI indicated that market forces mean that the company cannot wait for a solution that involves politicians.

"Most of the stakeholders in the fishing industry have recognized the need for rationalization of our sector for many years now," Sullivan said.

Union turned down deal: Dunderdale

Speaking with reporters in St. John's Friday, Dunderdale said the closure might have been avoided if the Fish, Food and Allied Workers union had co-operated with the company.

"OCI put an offer on the table to the FFAW for 18 weeks work over a year, for a three year period," Dunderdale said.

"The FFAW rejected that. I'm concerned about that."

Town and union officials in both communities had been bracing for bad news.

Residents of Marystown have been campaigning for months for a clear answer on the idled fish plant there, which employs about 240.

OCI said it was seeking a meeting with the Newfoundland and Labrador government to discuss "available support" for employees who are now out of work.

Emergency debate needed: NDP

Lorraine Michael, leader of Newfoundland and Labrador's New Democratic Party, said Friday's announcements were significant enough to open the house of assembly, which did not open for a fall sitting.

"The company has been stringing the workers along for months," Michael said in a statement. "Now the vague reassurances have turned into devastating reality for Marystown, and Port Union has little to hope for."

Michael said Dunderdale should not only open the house for an emergency debate, but move to halt OCI's ability to ship unprocessed redfish from the province.

OCI said it can make a profit by exporting all of its quota for whole yellowtail flounder to other buyers.

The closures are the most significant development in Newfoundland and Labrador's long-struggling fishery in years. OCI had bought the Port Union and Marystown plants from Fishery Products International in 2007, during a $158-million asset sale that broke apart what had been one of Canada's largest seafood companies.

"The market demand for whole fish is huge today. Customers don't want as much filleted product anymore. The global market is changing, and we must be able to provide the customers with the products they demand."